Estonian Vintage

It would seem unlikely that tankers of the Second World War would dare to engage the enemy in the buckets of bolts that were the tanks of World War One,  but this may very well have happened when the Soviet forces retreating from Tallinn in 1941 left two dug in World War One Mark V tanks to hold off the Wehrmacht.

The Mark V tank was a World War One-era rhomboid vehicle, although it started out as an entirely new type of tank. However, when the engine and transmission intended for the Mark IV became available in December of 1917, it was decided to use the same assembly lines, and the resulting Mark V was essentially an improved Mark IV. Also, the epicyclic gear steering system invented by a Walter Wilson made this the first British tank that required only one man to steer the vehicle. It also had a more powerful 150 hp Ricardo engine than its predecessors. The Mark V tank was originally built in 200 "male" versions with a 6lb guns in the left and the right sponson and 200 "female" versions which were armed with machine guns. Several were also converted to "Mark V Composites" or "hermaphrodites" with one gun and one machine gun sponson. An additional machine gun was fitted to the rear of the hull on all versions. The Mark V tank was initially deployed during the Battle of Hamel on July 4, 1918, when 60 tanks took part in a successful Australian assault on the German lines.

Following World War One, approximately 70 Mark V tanks were brought to Russia by the Western forces intervening on behalf of the White side in the Russian Civil War, and they were also used by British forces in the North Russia Campaign. Several were eventually captured by the Red Army, and in 1921 Mark V tanks were used by the Soviet forces invading Georgia. The Mark V tanks did contribute to the Soviet victory in the Battle of Tbilisi.

The young state of Estonia had initially requested tanks from the Western Allies following the end of World War One, but the Allies feared that Estonia would be defeated by the Soviet Union, and thus refused. However, the fortunes of war did provide Estonia with armored vehicles when the White Northwestern Army under General Nikolai Yudenich was overpowered by the Red Army following operation Whire Sword, a planned advance on Petrograd. The Northwestern Army was forced to retreat towards its ally Estonia, and it was dissolved at the end of 1919. At that time, the commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, Johan Laidoner, was given permission to take over the tanks of the Northwestern Army, and Estonia became the proud owners of four Mark V and two Renault FT tanks. On November 26, 1919, daily order no. 777 tasked Captain Hans Vanaveski with forming and organizing a training unit referred to as a Tank Class that was to be placed under the command of the commander of the Reserve Forces. The Mark V tanks were eventually re-formed into a heavy tank company.

Mark V tanks in Estonia, probably during the 1920s.

The Mark V was used by Estonian Army during the inter-war years, as were two other Mark V tanks acquired by the Latvian Army. When the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic States in 1940, the arms and the equipment of respective nation's armed forces were added to the Red Army. In February 1941, the Estonian heavy tank company was amalgamated by the Red Army, and all of the tanks were found to be in poor condition. The Red Army did not have railway cars suitable for transporting the Mark V tanks, so they were left behind in a warehouse near Tallinn and almost forgotten. By August that same year, the Wehrmacht was approaching, and the Mark Vs were taken out of storage and deployed in emplacements along a defensive line on the Pirita River to cover the Soviet retreat. The vehicles may have been re-equipped with up to seven machine guns as well as Soviet 45mm guns in at least one sponson. It is also not known if these venerable vehicles actually saw combat against the Wehrmacht, and the prospect of facing the advancing German Army in World War One-era tanks sounds grim indeed. The tanks were captured by the Germans, and probably brought back to Germany to be melted down. The fate of the two Latvian Mark V tanks is not known.

Mark V tank in its emplacement after being captured by the Wehrmacht.

German soldiers examining captured Mark V tank, possibly after being towed out of an emplacement.

It should be noted that Soviet Forces came across two badly damaged Mark V tanks, one composite and one female, during the Battle of Berlin, but these tanks were survivors of the Russian Civil War that had been on display in Smolensk before being transported to Germany. It is not known whether these vehicles played any combat role in the Battle of Berlin. 

A Mark V tank in Berlin after the war.

The two Mark V tanks in front of the cathedral in Smolensk